Sally Hansen Spark In The Dark Over Wet 'n' Wild All Access Gradient

Purchased

Hurrah for Friday!  It's been a long week and I'm glad it's nearly over.  It'll be my last weekend alone before the in-laws come out, followed by my parents through the end of summer.  I'm going to make the most of it, and try to relax, have fun, and minimize any errands.  How do you plan on spending your weekend?

I've been neglecting nail art over the past couple months and decided to do a quick gradient using the new Wet 'n' Wild Megalast All Access Summer collection.  I started with a base of the lightest color,  A Venice Day, which required three coats for opacity.  Next I sponged on the three gradient colors - A Venice Day, Love Me Some Muscle, and Beat Of A Generation together.  The middle shade, Love Me Some Muscle, ended up getting bullied out by the more pigmented pink of Beat Of A Generation.  I'm happy the way the colors blended together because it looks like a warm tropical sunset.  Pardon my crappy clean up, it's hard to do my nails when LO wakes up in the middle of my polish hour!

I added some visual interest to the gradient with Sally Hansen Spark In The Dark, a clear glitter topcoat containing matte black bar and hex glitter and gold hex glitter. Probably not the best layering combination with the gradient but I've been wanting to try this one out for a while.  There's something about that gold and black glitter combination that makes me weak in the knees!  Keep in mind when using this polish that the suspension base is thick like typical glitter bases, but when it dries it tends to shrink the base paint beneath it - you'll want to make sure to paint up to if not beyond your base color on your nail bed.  This is finished with a layer of topcoat.

Somehow with this combination I turned a beautiful tropical sunset into a bad neon eighties outfit.  LOL.  Well, at least I got Sparks In The Dark out of my system and it's no longer an untried, however, I'll have to come up with a more complimentary base color the next time I brave using it.  Blue maybe?  This is one reason why I have a hard time wearing gold accessories - it's so hard for me to coordinate!  Do you ever have this problem?

Purchased

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card Swatch And Review with Bonus Revlon Heavenly

Purchased

Another Monday, another dollar!  I'm looking forward to the end of this week, as I'll be starting my long awaited New Orleans vacation!  That being said, I totally forgot to line up some posts for the week that I'm gone, so pardon my absence.  I'll try to post if I have time, but most likely I won't.  I wish I had some back up posts for you, but it's so hard to get ahead, especially when LO doesn't want to fall asleep at night.

Today's post is going to feature the new Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy line that is appearing now in stores.  If you haven't heard, the older line is getting phased out and can be found on clearance at most stores, and these new Colorstay Gel Envys are replacing their displays.  With the words Gel Envy, I can only imagine that these are suppose to super high shine along with the well known Colorstay durability.  I picked up a couple(thanks to sales, coupons, and Extra bucks) and of course my eyes bee-lined straight to the deep royal blue cream called Wild Card.  This is similar to those deep luscious blues like Nails Inc Baker Street and Sinful Colors Endless Blue.  Unfortunately the deep blue freaked my camera out and I couldn't get it to show up on film as deep as it is IRL.  The formula was perfection, with low viscosity and super high pigmentation.  The brush is a pro-wide brush too with tapered corners which make maneuvering it a breeze.  I only needed one coat, just like the traditional Colorstays, but I used two out of habit.  And yes indeed-y, this dried to a super high shine without any need for topcoat.  Win!

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card

And just because I can't leave any good ole cream alone, I had to top this with a glitter topper.  I used Revlon Heavenly from the core line, and this pretty little thing has tons of hex and square glitters in iridescent pink and blue.  It's a versatile topper that I can see myself using at every opportunity.  I only needed one easy coat and then topped this all with a layer of my GCS/Poshe topcoat.

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

Revlon Heavenly Over Wild Card

I am highly impressed by the Colorstay Gel Envy line, as the colors are super pigmented and only need one coat for a super high shine, making it a perfect color to grab if you're running out the door like I am often am.  The brush adds points for me too, as it's not a wimpy drug store brush but rather wide, just like the salon or designer polishes.  And if you can get these on sale, it's a total win.  I dare say that I would put these on par or above with salon polishes like Zoya or Essie.  If you haven't tried these yet, you really should - you don't won't to miss out on these!

Purchased

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular Swatch And Review

Oy, I got my dreaded letter from the board stating that I need to renew my license before my birthday.  Most of the dread is seated in the fact that I have to complete 30 CE hours within the next month.  How is one suppose to celebrate a birthday when this kind of thing is hanging over my shoulder?  Blech.

It's a hot week here in LA, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to use an equally hot color.  I have from the Sally Hansen Triple Shine collection Taheati, a bright orange crelly.  I'm not accustomed to wearing orange polishes, and I have to admit that I like the way it goes with my skin tone.  The formula however, wasn't to my liking - it's with thick and gooey and applied like a gel rather than with a buttery consistency. This could probably have benefited from some thinner to improve the application.  I used three coat here, and surprisingly it leveled out and dried to the high gloss shine shown below.

Sally Hansen Taheati

Sally Hansen Taheati

Sally Hansen Taheati

Sally Hansen Taheati

Sally Hansen Taheati

 In addition, I have a new glitter topcoat that was released recently as part of the Triple Shine line, and this is called Sparktacular, a gold, orange, and green microglitter in a clear base.  I thought a glitter gradient would be a great way to layer Taheati and Sparktacular together, and started with a large sparse layer of glitter, then gradually layered thicker shorter layers starting at the base of the nail.  I finished this all with a layer of topcoat for shine and smoothness.

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular

Sally Hansen Taheati And Sparktacular

I love how the glitter mimicks a sparkling rainfall against that squishy super shiny base.  Despite the not so great formula, the Triple Shine polish really lives up to its promise of being shiny without the need of topcoat.  I'm glad that the orange doesn't recall images of Halloween or pumpkins either, which is probably why I don't normally add oranges to my collection.  This shade really helps sets up my mood for the anticipation of summer.  Have you gone out of your comfort zone lately and tried a color that's not in your norm?

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila Swatch And Review

Purchased

I think I've finally found my HG nail polish remover, and that's a DIY solution of pure acetone mixed with water and glycerin, a la loodie loodie loodie style.  The key to the removal is what has taken me a long time to learn, and that's not with foil or with cotton pads and swabs.  It's a scrubby tub.  I use to scoff at the scrubby tub, but after using it for a month, I don't think I could ever go back to anything else.  It removes glitters and polishes in seconds, and leaves no annoying lint behind.  It can be more drying than using a swab or pad, but the glycerin helps keep the fingers moisturized during the removal.  The only downfall is that I think I've loosened the brushes too much and I'm in need of a new tub!

Today's mani started with one of my favorite yellows, American Apparel Manila, aptly named after the shade of a manila envelope.  It glides on easily, just be careful to not overload the brush because the formula is a bit on the watery side.  There's no streaking at all and it coats fully after two rounds.  I didn't use a topcoat in these pics  Behold the awesomeness of an amazing yellow cream!

American Apparel Manila

American Apparel Manila

American Apparel Manila

American Apparel Manila

I've been wanting to use Elixir Lacquer Snowman Suite ever since I first saw it in the TPF swap box as a koi inspired mani.  Layered over Manila, I think it creates that effect fairly well, and looks like orange, white, and black spots over golden yellow scales.  I used two layers of Snowman Suite here, and had some difficulty manipulating the polish because it was thick and sparse in glitters.  Most of the glitters had sunken to the bottom already and I had to fish out some of them to get the glitters to cover the nails evenly.  This is finished with a layer of topcoat.

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila 

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila

Elixir Lacquers Snowman Suite Over American Apparel Manila

I really like the iridescent mini glitters in Snowman Suite, here it looks like bubbles of water while looking down at the koi.  I'm sure the intent was to mimic snow, and overall, I love the matte white, orange, and black glitter combination as a glitter topcoat.  If I was patient enough for it to dry down all the way, and had the right plates, I would stamp some koi fish in black.  Alternately, it looks like strikingly similar to a yellow taxi cab.  What do you do when glitter topcoats are thick and lacking in glitters to cover properly?

Purchased

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter! With KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest

Purchased

I've been itching to wear this gorgeous purple shimmer ever since I did some nail art with it, and I'm so glad I finally got around to wearing it.  This is Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter!, a perfect lavender with tons of sparkling pink shimmer.  The formula was smooth and excellent and applied with no streaks.  Two coats may have sufficed for shorter nails but I used three here for good measure.  This is without topcoat.

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter

I was inspired by the pink shimmer to add a pink glitter topcoat.  The closest I could find in my collection was KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest.  I wish there was a bit more pink, but then again, this glitter topcoat is pretty amazing with all the fabulous circle glitters in pink, silver, and gold.  I finished this with a layer of topcoat.

KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest

KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest

KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest

KBShimmer Toastess With The Mostest

What a perfect spring combination!  I love how the silver and gold circle glitters highlight the pastel pink and purple.  If a mani could be effervescent, this would be it!  I guess that's why Toastess With The Mostest is such a fitting name for a circle glitter topcoat.  Are you a fan of spring pastels or do you run the other direction? 

Purchased